Maine’s Legislature Splits on Anti-Gun Efforts

Once, my wife asked if there was somewhere up north I’d be willing to live. I love Georgia, but the summers are freaking hot and I guess she was wondering if there was somewhere I’d be down with living that actually sees snow.

I told her there were two states I’d consider. One was New Hampshire because of “Live Free or Die.” The other was Maine, because while it’s a blue state, it had pretty good gun laws.

Those days came to an end with the Lewiston shooting. Maine embraced a number of anti-gun measures in the wake of that horrific incident, and they’re still going.

However, they’re still not a blue state where gun control is a slam dunk, either, as this report shows.

In a series of votes reflecting Maine’s divided stance on gun control, the Maine Senate this week rejected a bill redefining “machine gun” to ban bump stocks, previously vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills for its broad language, while both chambers advanced a measure requiring serial numbers on firearms and prohibiting undetectable “ghost guns.”

Those bills were considered in the Legislature alongside proposals banning large-capacity ammunition magazines and penalizing improper handgun storage in vehicles, as well as the contentious public hearing on a “red flag” law referendum prompted by legal threats from gun rights groups.

‘Bump Stock Ban’ Shot Down by Senate

The Maine Senate on Thursday evening voted down a bill introduced by Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) that proposed redefining the term “machine gun” in Maine law to include any parts that could increase the fire rate of semi-automatic rifles, such as bump stocks.

Carney’s bill would make it a Class D misdemeanor-level crime for a person to knowingly possess a “rapid-fire device” or firearm modified with such a device.

Sen. Carney previously introduced another bill aimed at banning bump stocks in the 131st Legislature, but that bill was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills last April.

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‘Ghost Gun’ Bill Advanced Through Both Chambers

Maine lawmakers in both the House and Senate on Thursday advanced a bill that would require serial numbers on firearms and would prohibit “undetectable firearms” — guns not easily traced by standard security methods, such as 3D-printed firearms or other firearms assembled from kits sometimes called “ghost guns.”

Under the bill, LD 1126, the manufacture, sale, transfer or possession of undetectable firearms would be prohibited.

Serial numbers would also be required on firearms, frames and receivers to enhance traceability of firearms and components.

Also shot down was a magazine ban and a ban on storing firearms in vehicles.

And really, the “ghost gun” bill is hardly the worst possible gun law, though gun rights advocates correctly noted that it would make it impossible to sell antique firearms, many of which were manufactured prior to a serial number requirement. I’ve got one of those myself, and while it has no intrinsic value–it’s a family heirloom–it would still fall under a law like this.

I suspect that’s something that the courts might have something to say about, but I can’t be sure.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I don’t want that to become law, and I’m not about to say anyone should just shrug it off. I’m just saying that of all the measures on the table, this is probably the least obtrusive for most people.

Even those who want to make their own guns can probably be in the clear by putting a serial number on it. Probably.

Of course, as so many other laws do, this is all predicated on traceability being something useful when it’s usually not.

This one advancing isn’t good news, though. What’s good news is that all of the other measures, which are far worse, aren’t happening, which means Maine might be open to gun control measures, but it’s still not willing to blindly follow the anti-gun crowd.

Maybe sanity is starting to return to the state.